In an effort to prevent an infant's pacifier from being dropped and lost when not in the infant's mouth, designs have been proposed in which a ribbon connects the pacifier to a plastic pendant which is, in turn, attached to the infant's clothing. Because the pacifier dangles freely when not in use, however, the pacifier comes into contact with lint and dirt in the surrounding environment. Before the pacifier can be hygienically reused, it must first be cleaned.
Various United States patents have addressed this problem. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,860,639 to Hoover, 4,417,613 to Ryan et al, 4,493,324 to Johnston, and 4,946,054 to Maniero et al., disclose a pacifier cover or shield which is snapped in place over the pacifier. A drawback to this design is that the cover is a separate element which is not attached to the infant when the pacifier is in use. An alternative design is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,996 to Copeland, in which a detachable cap might be tied to the infant with a ribbon. The cap of this design, however, must be unscrewed from the pacifier, reversed, and screwed in again to alternately expose or cover the pacifier.